Body Found in Balboa Park

The body of a young man was discovered Saturday in a canyon in the Morley Field area of Balboa Park, police said.

Homicide investigators and a coroner’s deputy late Saturday were still trying to identify the man and determine how he died, but there were no apparent signs of foul play, said Lt. Paul Ybarrondo.

Ybarrondo described the young man as either white or Hispanic and wearing only blue jeans and tennis shoes.

He said the body was initially spotted at 10 a.m. by a resident of the nearby North Park neighborhood who was out walking his dog near a canyon about a quarter-mile from the Morley Field baseball diamonds.

The man did not call police immediately because he thought it was a man sleeping under some brush. However, he called authorities after he walked the dog again at 4:30 p.m. and noticed that the person had not moved, Ybarrondo said.

The body was found face down and partially covered with brush. It did not appear that it had been in the canyon longer than overnight, Ybarrondo said.

“We have a lot of canyon dwellers . . . that live out here,” he said. “Once in a while we find one of them dead.”